First measurement of direct photoproduction of the a2(1320)0 meson on the proton

We present the first measurement of the reaction gamma p -> a(2) (1320)(0) p in the photon energy range 3.5-5.5 GeV and four-momentum transfer squared 0.2 < -t < 2.0 GeV2. Data were collected with the CEBAF Large Acceptance Spectrometer detector at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility. The a(2) resonance was detected by measuring the reaction gamma p -> pi(0)eta p Tip and reconstructing the pi(0)eta invariant mass. The most prominent feature of the differential cross section is a dip at -t approximate to 0.55 GeV2. This can be described in the framework of Regge phenomenology, where the exchange degeneracy hypothesis predicts a zero in the reaction amplitude for this value of the four-momentum transfer.